Commercially available beverage dispensers are generally designed for large volume commercial outlets such as restaurants, convenience stores, and the like. The beverage dispensers are intended to dispense large volumes of different beverages within a short amount of time. Beverage dispenser design thus has focused on maximizing overall cooling and dispensing speeds. To accommodate such, the beverage dispensers may be relatively large in size and the components therein may complex and expensive.
Beverage dispensers generally include a number of pumps and other types of flow control devices so as to distribute the various fluids therein. A beverage dispenser must accurately provide a predetermined volume and/or a predetermined flow rate of a first fluid such as a concentrate to be mixed with a predetermined volume and/or a predetermined flow rate of a second fluid such as a diluent. The failure to provide the predetermined volumes or the predetermined flow rates of the fluids may result in an improperly mixed and unsatisfactory beverage. The pumps and other types of flow control devices, however, may be relatively expensive and may require regular cleaning and maintenance.
There is thus a desire for a beverage dispenser with an improved distribution system for water and other fluids. Preferably such an improved water distribution system may provide accurate and reliable flows of water and other fluids but without the complexity and costs generally involved with known beverage dispenser pumps and other types of flow control devices.